


Vengeance and Saving the World

by MidnightsWaltz



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightsWaltz/pseuds/MidnightsWaltz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Up, Tommy,” Oliver Queen’s voice was exhausted but perfectly steady. “There’s a monster heading to shore.”<br/>Once upon a time, that would have been a metaphor, but this was a post-fairy tale world. There really were monsters. Ones of the city-and-people-eating variety.<br/>And it was their job to stop them. Who the hell had thought that was a good idea?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vengeance and Saving the World

**Author's Note:**

> Arrow/Pacific Rim AU
> 
> I'm not sure a graphic violence warning is necessary - but just in case. Also, mild to moderate swearing.
> 
> There is, of course, some creative license in both worlds. Particularly the affect of the ghost drift and the time between kaiju attacks. Some of the incorrect information was simply information I didn't have at the time. Please, forgive me.
> 
> This is just a one-shot, but I have some ideas for further stories in this world that I hope to get to, someday.
> 
> Much thanks to my beta, Redtoes. Her advice made this a much better story all around. Though I did not take all of her suggestions so any troubles or typos are still very much my responsibility.

**PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS**  
Shatterdome Facility Status Report-  
NEW STAR CITY (fmr. Starling City)

 **Completed** FEBRUARY 1, 2017.  
**Marshall in Charge:** Quentin Lance  
**Jaeger Tech Leader:** Felicity Smoak  
**Active Jaeger assets:** Gravedigger (fmr. “Charlie Red”), Green Arrow  
**Active Rangers:** Andrew Diggle, John Diggle, Thomas Merlyn, Oliver Queen

 **Shatterdome Status:**  
Currently Active…

* * *

**PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS**  
Combat Asset Dossier-  
Jaeger

 **Name:** Green Arrow  
**Generation:** Mark IV  
**Date of Service:** JANUARY 21, 2018  
**Date of Termination:** N/A  
**Ranger Team Assigned:** Thomas Merlyn, Oliver Queen

 **MISSION HISTORY:**  
Credited with six kills, solo or combined…

* * *

**PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS**  
Combat Asset Dossier-  
Jaeger

 **Name:** Gravedigger (fmr. Charlie Red)  
**Generation:** Mark III  
**Date of Service:** APRIL 6, 2017  
**Date of Termination:** N/A  
**Ranger Team Assigned:** Andrew Diggle, John Diggle

 **MISSION HISTORY:**  
Credited with nine kills, solo or combined…

* * *

**Vengeance and Saving the World**

A screeching noise cut through the dark. Something important was happening, something that required his full attention.

Instead, Tommy Merlyn pulled his pillow up over his head to drown out the racket. What he could not drown out was Ollie scrambling out of the top bunk, especially when Tommy’s co-pilot of 18 months, and best friend for life, kicked him in the shins.

“Up, Tommy,” Oliver Queen’s voice was exhausted but perfectly steady. “There’s a monster heading to shore.”

Once upon a time, that would have been a metaphor, but this was a post-fairy tale world. There really were monsters. Ones of the city-and-people-eating variety.

And it was their job to stop them. Who the hell had thought that was a good idea?

“Didn’t we do this six weeks ago?” Tommy mumbled. Hopping into his coveralls and boots, he read the report on the screen. Kaiju Category 3. Named: Rockslide. Sounded like fun.

Barely five minutes later he and Ollie stepped into the suiting area. As the crew helped the two of them into their driftsuits, Daniel regaled them with stories of his night out with the Drummond twins, Gwyn updated them on her mom’s condition, and it was a testament to all of them that the digital stack of Jocelyn’s baby pictures didn’t slow any one of them down for a second. Tommy squeezed into the underlayer first, technically named “the circuity suit”, it reminded him of something he saw in a bad 80’s scifi movie once. It was fitted with wires and circuity that transmitted instructions from him and Ollie to their Jaeger. The second layer, a polycarbonate frame that handled life support. The final layer locked the pilots into the Conn-Pod, where they controlled the giant machine.

Their helmets on, they walked into the head of their Jaeger. A Mark-IV, a 300 foot tall monstrosity of green and gray titanium and monster-fighting weapons. It had rolled off the assembly line just as they had graduated ranger training. There was a certain chemistry all Jaeger co-pilots needed, if you were going to mindmeld with someone you needed to know and trust them implicitly. It was a rare find. That had been him and Oliver since they met, which was pretty much at birth. But Tommy was certain that you also needed that - whatever it was - with your Jaeger, too. The three of them had it. Him, Ollie, and Green Arrow.

Inside the Conn-Pod, the platform reached out to welcome him as he slid his feet into place. The crew had followed them in to attach and double-check each link to the cradle along their spines, but once that was done, it quickly became just Oliver and him in the Pod.

Oliver yawned. “Remind me why we signed up for this again?” he asked.

“Vengeance and saving the world, I believe.”

“Probably not one of our better decisions,” Oliver admitted, checking the Pons mechanism, the device that allowed them to Drift with each other and their Jaeger. Tommy really did know Ollie better than anyone else in the world, a side effect from having your brains metaphorically smashed together repeatedly. Oliver never wanted to be anywhere other than in a Jaeger.

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed. “But it’s not one of our worst either.”

A yawn broke through the comms. “Good morning. Well, I guess it’s not really a ‘good’ morning. There’s a Category 3 Kaiju heading straight for Starling City. Or, New Star City, or whatever you want to call it now. Changing it’s name didn’t really change anything. Anyway. Kaiju was named Rockslide. No idea why, got an image of it really quick from a satellite, I probably would have named it Squidward, or something, but it’s not up to me.”

“Felicity,” Oliver cut her off. Tommy snickered, he didn’t like interrupting her, you never knew where her rambling would wander off to. She did just bring up Spongebob Squarepants on an official transmission.

“Sorry,” she said. “I need coffee,” they heard her mutter to herself. “But that would keep me up all night. Of course, by the time everything gets settled it’ll be time to wake up again anyway.”

Tommy glanced at Oliver who just grinned. A swell of affection for Felicity had risen from the back of his mind. Tommy liked her well enough, even considered her a friend, but that affection wasn’t his. It was Oliver’s. Once you drifted with someone, there was always a bit of a connection. The science geeks had been at a loss to explain it, but there was always an undercurrent, very muted, but noticeable. Occasionally they even shared dreams but mostly Tommy just picked up on Oliver’s emotions. For a moment, he considered teasing Oliver about that special smile that the pretty blond in LOCCENT, and only the pretty blond in LOCCENT, could create. But the Drift was only a couple minutes away and he would know _exactly_ what Tommy was thinking anyway.

Tommy hit the comm button. “We can still hear you, Fix-it.”

He could also hear her roll her eyes. “What did I say about that name, Merlyn?”

“Aww, you love it.”

A very stiff “No” was all she said before a new gruff voice cut it. “Ready for drop?” Quentin Lance asked.

“Yes, sir,” Felicity replied. “Engaging drop.”

“Release for drop,” Tommy grimaced, as he and Oliver hit buttons on the console. Of all the things Tommy hated, it wasn’t the 3am wake up calls to go kill alien monsters, it was the free fall as the head of Green Arrow slid from its gantry and down a shoot to settle into the rest of Arrow’s massive body. That swooping sensation, the momentary lack of gravity. Only practice and an empty stomach allowed him to do it again and again without blowing chunks all over the Pod. When the world righted itself, Tommy saw the image of Gravedigger’s red head getting screwed on in the bay across from them.

Off to his right, Tommy heard Oliver confirm that they were locked in place. A second later, Tommy felt the engine and numerous weapons systems power up, and Green Arrow came to life.

He pushed a different button on the comm. “Hey, John! Andy! They didn’t need to get you two out of bed, Ollie and I can handle this!”

John Diggle’s voice came back laughing, “Sure you can, Merlyn. You two can handle clean up after we slice it up for you!”

The Gravedigger, originally named Charlie Red, was a blood colored machine with plenty of rockets and plasma canons, but the Diggle brothers’ preference for using the spade shaped knives extending from its wrists helped inspire the name change. They had taken down nine Kaiju using them.

Also, digger/Diggle, it was like fate.

“Green Arrow first,” Felicity said as their Jaeger was slid from its berth to a platform, then down Scrabble Alley and towards the creaking open outer doors. An undercurrent of excitement and trepidation trickled around Tommy’s fingertips, a contrast to the cool determination at the base of his skull. That determination was Oliver’s. It helped keep him level headed. Oliver had always been the brave one. The platform stopped just outside the Shatterdome’s bay doors, Tommy and Oliver got a clear view of the black ocean in front of them, both acutely aware of what lay below, the Kaiju, and what lay behind them, New Star City and it’s three million inhabitants.

Felicity spoke again, cutting the silence with a knife. “Everything is lining up good, guys. Prepare for neural handshake.”

There was no tension about the Drift. An image of their brains appeared on one of the screens inside the Pod as Felicity counted down from 5.

“Hey, Ollie. No judgments about what you see in there,” Tommy said for the millionth time.

“Never,” Oliver replied as he always did.

Then Felicity’s voice said “one” and they were Drifting.

 

_They were so young. Oliver pushed Laurel Lance down on the playground. She stood up and punched him in the face. Tommy laughed._

_Oliver_ _’s mom said they were going to have another baby. Oliver was not happy. Why would they have another kid, they already had him. And he already had Tommy. He didn’t need another brother. Tommy reminded Oliver that they weren’t brothers. “Good enough for me,” Ollie said._

_Tommy, 17, making out with one girl after the other in his car. All boring. Just something to do._

_Officer Witaker kneeling in front of Tommy telling him that his mother would never come home._

_Thea chasing them around with a G.I. Joe in the back yard. If they were going to steal her stuff, she would steal theirs._

_Laurel Lance, older, punching Oliver in the face._

_Oliver and Laurel kissing._

_Tommy_ _’s dad didn’t come home after his mother’s funeral. Mrs. Queen sat with him, Thea on her lap, as Mr. Queen yelled at someone on the phone. They took him home with them that night. And every night after for two years._

_“I guess we really are brothers,” Tommy said. “Always were,” Ollie replied._

_Oliver laughs at the face she makes the first time Tommy calls Felicity_ _“Fix-it Felix”._

_Laurel punching Oliver in the face, the time she caught him with her sister._

_It was Tommy_ _’s 16th birthday, drunk, they crashed his car. Mr. Queen gave him the ‘I’m disappointed’ speech. Mr. Merlyn bought him another car and took care of the cops._

_They were all on the Queens Gambit. The Queens, the Merlyns, and the Lances - minus father Quentin, a Ranger, a Jaeger pilot. It was the Pacific, but they were near shore and no kaiju had ever struck Starling City. Until the Kaiju Nightmare rose up and ate the Queens Gambit, leaving Ollie, Tommy, Laurel, and Thea to battle their way back to shore on the debris._

_The look of betrayal on Thea_ _’s face when they left her, and both families businesses, to family friend Walter Steele and ran off to join the Rangers._

 _Tommy watches Oliver hand the pretty blond woman the broken computer. Insisting that a dog is the reason it was bent in half. Tommy is impressed with how she manages to say_ _“really, ‘dog’. That’s what you’re going with?” without using a single word. When she does speak, she says, “this looks like one of you used it as a shield during practice.” Which is exactly what happened, except it was during a fight. Which no one wants to cop to. Oliver smiles. Tommy is surprised. It’s a real smile. One he hasn’t seen since Nightmare._

They were in Green Arrow, looking out at the Pacific Ocean, with a kaiju to face.

 

Tommy and Oliver were back in the present. That usual ghost drift between Ollie and him was a full-fledged mental connection, but Tommy had to put it out of his mind. Focus.

“Neural handshake is strong and steady, Arrow,” Felicity said.

“Right side ready,” Oliver said, lifting his right arm as Green Arrow moaned and did the same. It was a strange sensation, because Tommy’s arm also did the same. Tommy had not given the instructions for his arm to move, Oliver had. They were, in so many ways, one mind right now. He could have overridden it, but then they wouldn’t be as in sync and wouldn’t have fought as well together. Oliver was the right side.

But Tommy was the left. “Left side ready.” He lifted his left arm, Oliver, and Green Arrow, following suit. They were partners in this fight.

Instantly, they were swarmed by helicopters deploying cables, wrapping them around Green Arrow. Jaegers were tough and fast, but at the end of the day, choppers got them there faster and in a battle for the planet, every second counted.

Felicity swore over comms, then Marshall Lance cut her off again. “Rangers, LA Shatterdome had sent Romeo Blue to intercept, but they’ve missed it. No way for them to catch up. Arrow, that’s your job now, this thing is just outside The Miracle Mile.” If a kaiju got closer than ten miles out, it was nearly impossible to stop them from coming on shore. They called that The Miracle Mile. “Gravedigger will be holding the shoreline.”

“Understood,” Oliver said.

Green Arrow was lifted up and out over the water. Both Oliver and Tommy were quiet as they watched the display showing them how much distance between them and the kaiju. He could see what Felicity had meant about naming it Squidward. The radar showed a bulbous head, four comparatively stringy appendages that ended in a spade hand. It looked like it should be a weakling, but they knew better. Never underestimate a kaiju.

Thorough the comms they could hear Gravedigger being dropped into place. Only a couple miles out further, the shallow water near a small string of uninhabited islands caused Squidward to break the surface.

The scan showed them the underlying terrain of the ocean floor. They could fight completely submerged if necessary, but it was much more difficult, and it wasn’t necessary. “I guess now would be a good time to cause some damage,” Oliver said.

“Yup, disengaging cables,” Tommy pushed the buttons necessary and Green Arrow dropped the last few meters, until the ocean came up to the Jaeger’s mid-thigh.

The kaiju would have had to be dead to not notice that it was no longer the only enormous monster in the kiddy pool. Unfortunately, it was not dead. It reared up immediately to face Green Arrow. Tommy could see why the guy in Hong Kong had named it Rockslide.

“That is one ugly son of a bitch,” Oliver said.

Tommy snorted. “Like that’s new.”

Its shape may have looked like a cartoon character, but its body looked like a mountainside rising from the water. The face was one giant boulder with cat eyes and leather skin. The arms were thin but they were all muscle and Tommy suspected it would take a lot more than a few hits with the Plasmacaster to get through it.

One of its building sized flippers swung around to trying to catch them off guard as Arrow steadied itself in the ocean. But Oliver and Tommy were prepared and brought up Arrow’s left arm to block, taking the chance to level a punch to Squidward’s temporarily unprotected noodle arm.

The kaiju sent up a roar that Tommy thought might have been heard all the way back in Starling City.

“I think we just pissed it off,” Tommy joked.

“It started it,” Oliver replied, sending the right arm around again to connect with Squidward’s rocky face, over and over and over again.

Squidward roared each time. Blue acidic blood hit the waves again and again. Not nearly enough of it for Tommy’s taste but Arrow’s punches were knocking it back and further out from the city they had been tasked to protect.

The appendage in Arrow’s left hand shifted. Tommy expelled a few creative obscenities as the spade hand slipped and then wrapped around their left arm. The thing’s grip testing their machine’s strength.

“Shit, Ollie, I think this fucking thing has suckers!”

“ _Of course_ it does,” Oliver groaned.

Tommy could feel them trying to attach to his arm through the Drift. They had the same thought. Immediately, they pulled the arm from Squidward’s grip before it could latch on completely, shoved the P-20 Plasmacaster in the kaiju’s face and fired.

The plasma cannon turned the night electric blue and a layer of ocean water directly into fog. Squidward reared back, its face a completely different shade of brown. But still not the shade they’d been hoping for. It recovered much more quickly than they had hoped for, too, sending another spade hand at them. Arrow was unable to duck before the punch reached them with a surprising force that knocked the Jaeger to its knees.

Part of the problem with Drifting with a giant machine is any injuries to it translate as pain. Tommy’s face was in a lot of pain right then.

The kaiju kept swiping at them, blow after blow, as they struggled to stand. Fear tried to grab a hold on Tommy again. He refused to let it. They had been in worse situations. Three, at least, to his counting. They weren’t going out like this.

As Squidward pulled back to swing again and Tommy and Ollie grabbed the chance, Arrow’s waist twisted and its left arm launched out, boosted by rockets. It hit the kaiju square in the bulbous jaw, sending a spray of poisonous kaiju blood out over the ocean. Squidward’s roar echoed inside the Conn-Pod as the kaiju fell back landing on a rocky beach Tommy hadn’t seen before.

In the struggles to get it off of them, they hadn’t noticed just how close to the uninhabited islands they were. Taking the opportunity, Tommy and Ollie charged up the Plasmacaster and fired three times.

Squidward roared and bled some more, but it stood back up, without swaying even a little bit. All kaiju were amphibious, they fought as well on land as water. A part of Tommy hoped that this one’s squid-like build would hamper it on land. He didn’t bet on it, though.

Oliver swore. “This asshole took four plasma blasts.”

“We’ll just have to try something different,” Tommy said. There was an immediate sound of heavy chains and gears as part the Jaeger’s right arm retracted and the tip of an arrow appeared. Their johyo, chain dart. This one built for kaiju battle, its edges lit up white hot.

They fired. Squidward dodged. The arrowhead impaled itself on a massive rock, but Tommy and Ollie didn’t miss a beat. Grabbing the chain, still attached to Green Arrow, they tugged, giving the boulder a bit of twist to send it spiraling. Squidward couldn’t duck in time and fell face first into the beach, the boulder shattered and sand flew everywhere.

They retracted the arrow and moved in on the kaiju. Using the internal sensors because the air was still made of sand. The sensors screamed at them when one of the appendages lashed out and wrapped itself around their right leg. Then it tugged. Their leg collapsed and Green Arrow was on its knees. Again.

Not bothering with cussing, they used the arrowhead and started cutting. There was kaiju blood, a lot of it, but that didn’t stop Squidward from pulling again. Arrow slipped, nearly onto its back. It was trying to pull them back into the ocean.

Of all the times they had fought these damn things in the water, this time, it seemed like a _very bad_ idea. Right then the kaiju was in control.

They twisted and shot out the arrow. It sliced Squidward across the hand and they were dropped to the beach, but it took too long for them to get back to their feet.

The kaiju was in the open ocean again.

For a second it turned back, as if debating whether or not to finish them off now, but whatever instincts that compel the kaiju drove them to populated shores and this one is no different. It turned from the beach.

In the back of Tommy’s mind there is a flash of a memory from a fight last year. He grinned.

Green Arrow, careful of its injured right leg, leaped, landing on top of Squidward. The kaiju collapsed underneath them and into the still shallow waters. Its flippers swung back trying to dislodge them. They had a clean grasp of the kaiju’s neck and held it under the water with one hand, while their glowing arrow was poised to burn right through Squidward’s head.

Then Arrow was in a bear hug, the kaiju latched on with its suckers and it spins. It rolled them into much deeper waters, smashing their Jaeger on every rock as it followed the ocean floor.

The spinning did nothing good for their heads or stomachs, but it was worse when it stopped because when it did Arrow was pinned beneath the kaiju. The water tight Conn-Pod cracking underneath the massive weight of the creature. They swore as water seeped in, a bit at first, then more and more. The read-out from their individual oxygen tanks was not good. Squidward must have cut something. All they had was what had been pumped into the Conn-Pod. Sparks from the electrical systems were flying, but, at that moment, they were more worried about drowning than electrocution.

Squidward slapped down, they saw stars as if they had been punched themselves. Both of them felt the suckers immediately grab hold and tear and Oliver screamed when the metal skin on Arrow’s right arm was ripped off. Tommy swungs out, Squidward caught the arm and pulled. More skin was ripped off.

Faintly, they both heard shouting over the comms, something about Gravedigger wanting to help. Oliver heard Felicity shouting about the Drift destabilizing, but they don’t need to be told that. At the same time, they mentally reach out and reestablished the link. Felicity didn’t sound any less freaked out.

Squidward was still pummeling them. Tommy had the strange sensation of being relieved that they haven’t lost any body parts yet. In the back of his mind, a memory formed of Felicity sitting in her seat in LOCCENT shaking, holding back tears, her hands moving over her console on to stop herself from covering her eyes. It was her job to monitor, to watch. This was her when a Jaeger that she didn’t even know was destroyed in her waters several months ago. They didn’t want to see her when it was her friends failing. They weren’t going to let her watch.

There was a deafening “pop” and the Conn-Pod went dark. The Drift disconnected. After a few seconds there was only the sound of water rushing in and and sparking electricity. Tommy held his breath, waiting for the killing blow, but nothing happened.

“The hell…” Oliver’s voice drifted over to him. “Is it just going to leave us here?”

Tommy rolls his eyes. “Don’t jinx it.” He hit a couple buttons on the heads up display but it remained determinedly dead. “Why isn’t emergency power getting us back up?”

It was clear if Squidward wasn’t going to take any more punches at them, it was probably heading toward shore. The both shook themselves out of the Jaeger’s harnesses. Oliver reached into a drawer on the wall and pulled out a battery about the size of his own head. They proceed to hook it up to the heads up display and comms.

The display confirmed their suspicion. Squidward is heading for shore. Tommy splashed through freezing ocean water to a panel on the back of the Conn-Pod. They were actually trained for this, so he knew what the wires inside are supposed to look like and roughly what they went to. His stomach dropped. A third of the wires had popped out, the rest look like they’d been burned.

As he grabbed replacement wires, Oliver pushed the comm button. Chaos erupted from the other end. Felicity, in a shaky voice, warning Gravedigger about in coming and ordering choppers to Arrow’s last known position.

“Felicity.”

The commotion was gone in an instant. “Oliver! Oh, god. Thank god. Are you two okay?”

“As okay as we can be while underwater with a leaking Jaeger, dwindling oxygen, and no power,” Oliver replied, while he and Tommy worked as fast as they could to fix the emergency power. “The back ups haven’t come online. We’re working on it.”

“How bad is the leak,” she asked, her voice still wavering.

They both looked down at the water pooling above their ankles. “Bad,” was Oliver’s only reply.

There is silence from the other end. Felicity babbled under stress, but sometimes all you can do is hold your breath while waiting for bad news. A few minutes later, they finished. Arrow remained stubbornly dark.

“Uh, Fix-it. The wires all seem to be working, except we still don’t have power,” Tommy said.

She was quiet for a second more, then, “What does the display say?”

Tommy and Oliver splashed back to the platform, the water almost to their waists. They scaned the display quickly for what Felicity could be asking for. In the far corner, a little black screen said “Ready”.

Oliver told her what they found. 

Felicity remained silent for another second, then she said, “By the door behind you is a panel. It says ‘caution-do not open’. You need to open that. In there are several levers. The three on the far right. You need to flip them down and then back up. It will interrupt communication, but only for a few seconds.”

Tommy felt a nagging suspicion in Oliver’s mind, but he was too worried about how much more water they could take on, so he just swam over and pulled the panel open. Grabbing the levers one at a time, Tommy pulled them down. As predicted the comms shorted out, but so did the display. For a second he felt panic well up, but then he flipped the levers back up.

Arrow sprang to life once more.

Tommy and Oliver stared at each other for a second, incredulous.

“Oliver? Tommy?” The comms were working again.

Oliver hit the reply button. “Felicity. Did you just have us repair a multi-billion dollar piece of equipment by turning it off and then back on?”

“Are you going to yell at me about it or are you going to get to the surface so you both don’t drown?”

Tommy was already snapping himself back in, Oliver wears a stupid grin on his face as they prepared to Drift again.

“Reinitializing mental handshake in 5…”

Tommy looked at Oliver. “No judgments.”

“Never.”

 

 _Tommy and Ollie and Mr. Queen on a camping trip. Tommy_ _’s dad was supposed to come. But something came up._

_Ollie and Laurel stealing a few moments when they both manage to be in town at the same time._

_Tommy felt sick. It was their first day at the Starling City Shatterdome. Any minute now they would have to face Quentin Lance since their families funerals. The older man hadn_ _’t said anything at the time, but Tommy expected that he blamed them for his wife and daughter’s deaths. How could he not? They wouldn’t have been there if not for them._

_The Queens brought home baby Thea. There was plenty of room for a sister it turned out._

_Tommy and Oliver decided to teach Thea how to play checkers. She spent more time trying to eat the pieces than learn anything._

_Oliver shows Felicity some self defense in the Shatterdome_ _’s gym. She was improving._

_"Thea, you can’t stay here,” Oliver insisted. “It’s not safe.”_

_“It was never safe,” she replied._

_“You’re still a kid, a minor.”_

_“Take me with you.”_

_“They don’t let kid sisters tag along for Ranger training.”_

_“You two are all I have left. And now you’re leaving me…”_

_Oliver and John Diggle spar in the gym while Tommy and Andy egg them on._

_Thea visited them once at the Shatterdome. It did not go well._

_Mr. Merlyn showed up on Tommy_ _’s 10th birthday. Tommy ran to him the moment he saw him. The Queens were slower to forgive._

 _Tommy_ _’s mother placed a massive piece of chocolate cake in front of him. Then she was gone._

 _Tommy, Oliver, both Diggles, and Felicity sitting on the Shatterdome floor with her pirated copy of_ _“The Last Starfighter” playing on across the wall. She had been offended that they had never seen it._

They were back. A couple powerful kicks and they breached the surface. The water level in the Conn-Pod dropped rapidly. The cracks that had been letting the ocean in now helped circulate air. Catching up to Squidward was going to take much more effort.

They swam and ran as fast as their injured Jaeger could manage, the whole time listening as the Diggles hiked out to meet Squidward. They reached visual range just as Squidward leaps out of the water and onto Gravedigger.

The Diggles are ready for it, they lashed out with their glowing spades, swiping Squidward across the neck. It’s only minor damage but the kaiju has already been through one battle and minor damage adds up. Gravedigger didn’t give any quarter, it lashed out with punch after punch, kick after kick.

Until Squidward gets in its own lucky punch and it latched on to the red Jaeger. Instead of pulling at the Diggles like it had done with Arrow, the kaiju begins attaching all four of its arms to Gravedigger trying to use its weight to drag them down into the water. The Diggles get ahead of it and the glowing spades were moving double time to cut the suckers off of the kaiju.

Squidward screams and bleeds. It took a swipe. It may not have the suckers anymore, but it was still a massive kaiju with a lot of muscle.

Tommy and Ollie shot their arrow straight into Squidward’s raised paw and yanked. The kaiju fell back into the bay. It twisted around, spotting them. Hate in its eyes.  Squidward grabbed the arrow, itself, and tried to wrench it from them. But Tommy and Ollie rushed toward the kaiju, keeping the chain between their arrowhead and arm loose. At the last second, they grabbed the chain, wrapped it around Squidward’s neck a couple times and then they were on its back, pulling the chain with all their Jaeger’s remaining strength.

Gravedigger was right there, landing burning slice after burning slice. They kept going long after its clear Squidward wasn’t going to recover. They stop only when Felicity confirms that sensors cannot read the Kaiju’s life signs.

And then they cut off its head, just in case.

The comms crackled. “So, who’s doing clean up?” a very tired John Diggle quipped.

Ollie and Tommy glanced at each other, then burst into laughter.

 

In the end, the J-Techs suited up and cleaned up the harbor.

It took Tommy and Ollie thirty-two minutes to get the limping Green Arrow back into its berth. By the time their Jaeger was settled and their Drift disconnected, Tommy was beginning to shake from the adrenaline fading from his system. There was nothing sweeter than the thought of crashing into his bunk again. But, in the Pan Pacific Defense Corp, taking out a massive alien monster was no excuse to skip a medical exam and a debrief.

They both took a deep, steadying breath as they extracted themselves from the Conn-Pod. The door opening behind them and Arrow’s J-Techs swarming in to being repairs. There was a stiffness settling in Tommy’s bones making his movements slower than he would like. Several injuries started to nag him, from a dull pain in his back, to sharp stinging in his left arm. The whole left side of his face felt like it should be one blue bruise. Bed sounded so nice right then.

They just made it out of the Conn-pod before Tommy spotted a familiar blond practically sprinting down the passageway. Her jumpsuit was unzipped to her waist, the empty arms tied over her hips, olive green shirt she wore underneath was covered in old engine grease. More than a few of Felicity’s curls had slipped from her usual ponytail, her glasses were crooked, and her face was more pale than Tommy had ever seen it.

The moment she saw them, she paused, then in three strides she wrapped her arms firmly around Oliver’s neck. Ollie grunted as he stumbled back a little, before he laughed and returned Felicity’s embrace. Tommy could actually see the stress drain from his old friend. Then he waits. Techs were glancing out of the door of the Conn-Pod, most with knowing grins on their faces. Marshal Lance, the father of Oliver’s girlfriend, had stopped down the hall and was watching. He was not smiling. Awkward.

Tommy cleared his throat and Felicity instantly released Oliver, her bright red face standing out from her blond hair. There is irritation and embarrassment in the back of his mind from Oliver.

“Hey, Felix,” he said accepting a, much shorter, hug from her.

As soon as she is free again, she smacked them both on the arm. “Don’t scare me like that again!” Oliver flinched from where the circuitry suit had seared his skin when Squidward ripped at Arrow’s right arm. Felicity’s face drops. “Sorry. Let’s get you out of that suit.” Her cheeks turned red again, as she realizes what she just said. “Not that I-”

She’s interrupted as Daniel, Gwyn, and Jocelyn circle them and drag Tommy and Ollie back to have their suits pried off. When they come out of the suiting room in sweats and t-shirts, she is still lingering nearby, her back to them.

“Shouldn’t you be hovering over your techs in there?” Oliver asked, pointing his thumb back to the Jaeger.

“I can do both,” she assured him just before she faces them, then hisses. When they had removed the underlayer they had discovered burns, dark, almost black, geometric lines down Oliver’s right arm. There were identical ones on Tommy’s left forearm where Squidward had torn Arrow’s exoskeleton off. Inside the Jaeger it had felt like the skin had been ripped off, it must have overloaded the suit.

Well, they had known scars would be part of the job.

“You two need to get to the infirmary,” Felicity said.

Oliver shrugged. “They’re not as bad as they look.”

Tommy snorted. “You can act as tough as you want, Ollie. Mine hurt like hell. There better be some good drugs in my near future.”

Oliver scowled at him. She grabbed Oliver by his not-burned arm and tried to drag him down the passage, but doesn’t get more than a foot before he stops her. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be supervising your crews, remember.”

She exhales and deflates for a second. “You were dead,” Felicity’s voice cracks. “Both of you. You were screaming and then you were gone. Arrow’s signal disappeared from my screen.” Felicity’s eyes fell to the ground. Tommy could see her swallowing several times, trying to get herself back under control.

Tommy’s heart twisted. Felicity was one of the smartest, kindest, strongest people he knew. He had seen her cry over lost Rangers, but she sat her seat and did her job. Somehow, it had never occurred to him before that day that she could, one day, be crying over them. It left a terrible taste in his mouth. In the back of Tommy’s mind, Oliver suppressed an urge to pick her up, wrap her in linen and bubble wrap, and run with her as far inland as his substantial finances could get them. So, his old friend settled for what he could do and wrapped his arms around Felicity again.

Her voice was muffled in Oliver’s shirt. “I know my job and I know your job, but you were dead. So, letting you out of my sight for the next few days is going to be hard, okay?”

Marshall Lance was still standing down the hall watching. This was moving from awkward to bad. The two broke apart and Tommy wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“I say, after work and sleep, there is a movie,” Tommy said. There were many perks to being a Jaeger pilot, one of them was that Tommy regularly brought in a projector and showed movies on the Shatterdome wall without getting into trouble. “Celebrate that all the good guys came home alive, again.”

Felicity gave him a weak smile. “I vote for Clue. I need a laugh”

“Clue it is,” Tommy and Oliver agreed.

A loud crash from inside the Conn-Pod caused all three of them to jump. Felicity covered her face with her hands. “I’d better check on that.”

Felicity disappeared into the Jaeger, but not without glancing back at them a few times.

“So, movie night.” They turned to face Marshall Lance, Tommy felt a bit of dread in the back of his mind. “Maybe I’ll see if Laurel wants to come. She is in town, you know.”

Oliver nodded. “I know. I was going to ask her myself.”

“Well, that would be a change.”

There was a twitch in Oliver’s jaw that prevented him from speaking, so Tommy did it for him. “Ollie always asks her, sir, but she’s so busy.”

“Maybe it’s who asked.”

Tommy reached out and pretended to forget about Oliver’s burned arm. It was either that or find a way to walk back from Ollie punching the Marshall flat. Instead, Oliver hissed and pulled away.

Lance seemed to remember that they’d been in a kaiju battle less than an hour ago. “You two get to the infirmary. I expect to see you both in an hour for debrief.”

They ‘yes, sir’-ed and took off down the hall. As soon as they were out of eyesight, Oliver took a swing at the wall. He didn’t put in enough effort to do any damage to himself. Tommy rolled his eyes. “What is his problem?”

Tommy snorted. “Really? You’re dating his daughter and he comes down the hall to see you wrapped around another woman. Sound familiar?”

“‘Wrapped’? It was a hug. It was Felicity. She was upset. Tell me you didn’t want to do the same.”

Well, he had him there. “But I’m me and you are dating his daughter.”

Oliver looked a bit too smug as they hopped on to the elevator.

“And it was you and _Felicity_ ,” Tommy pointed out.

“Yes.” The confusion Tommy felt from Ollie both amused and irritated him.

“I like Felicity. She’s smart, funny, kind, pretty. She and I are friends. But when Squidward was squeezing us like a dog toy and we thought we were going to die. Those memories of her… they weren’t coming from me. When you thought you were going to die, Oliver. You were thinking about her. What do _you_ think that means?”

“I think I didn’t want my _friend_ to listen to my death.”

“I think you’re an idiot if you think all you and Fix-it have is friendship.”

Irritation, frustration, panic. All from the part of his mind where Oliver was. Interesting.

“Are we interrupting something?”

Tommy hadn’t noticed that the elevator had stopped and the doors were standing open with the Diggle brothers on the other side. John Diggle was built like a mountain, with massive boulders for his arms and chest. His brother Andy was only slightly smaller. They were both looking back and forth between Ollie and Tommy attempting to appear ignorant, they were anything but. They had heard his comment to Oliver - and they probably agreed with it, just like anyone else who had seen Felicity and Oliver together.

Oliver stepped out of the elevator, cutting off the conversation. “Thanks for the help out there,” he said to the Diggles extending a hand out to each in turn.

Andy flashed a big grin. “Anytime, Queen. Next time you should just let us handle it. Don’t want to give the whole Shatterdome a heart attack again.”

“Next one is all yours,” Tommy promised, holding the elevator for the brothers as he stepped off.

“You two, in here, now,” Doctor Lamb stood in the door of the infirmary, waving his clipboard at Tommy and Oliver.

“Uh oh,” Andy muttered. “You two better get over there before he leaves his lair.”

“Yup,” Tommy agreed. “Movie night tonight. Be there?”

“Of course. Hey,” John caught the doors before they closed. “We’re glad you’re both okay.”

Tommy smiled with genuine gratitude. “Thanks, man. See you tonight.”

Hopping onto one of the beds in the infirmary, Tommy sighed and glanced at the clock. They hadn’t even been awake for two hours. His body felt like the fight had lasted for _days_. And he still had that debrief to get through. He was not looking forward to that. Going over everything that happened during the battle, detailing every decision they made. All Tommy could think about right then was how comfortable the infirmary bed was. Doctor Lamb seemed to be focused on Ollie right then. Oliver seemed to be doing everything in his power to not think about their conversation on the elevator. That was fine for now. It was a fight for a later day. Experience dictated that it would be a good twenty minutes before the good doctor would get to him. Tommy figured he could get in a really good nap in that time.

Screw it, they would wake him up when they needed him. Tommy stole a spare pillow to block out the light, turned on his side and promptly fell asleep.


End file.
